


I know how I want it to go

by smaragdbird



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Carson knows what he's doing, Episode: s03e17 Sunday, First Kiss, Fishing, Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, POV Rodney McKay, Rodney overthinks the situation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 19:18:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18784516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: Carson and Rodney and their fishing trip





	I know how I want it to go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivulet027](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/gifts).



“I cannot believe you’re making me go fishing with you”, Rodney complained not for the first time. They had left Atlantis and all the important work he could be doing behind – Carson hadn’t even let him take a laptop with him – and were now marching inland through the forest of the mainland. Some Athosians had told Carson about a particularly plentiful pond and of course that lay in the middle of nowhere rather than being easily reachable by Jumper.

“You almost died, Rodney”, Carson replied with an eyeroll. “It will be good for you to relax.”

“Maybe I find my work relaxing”, Rodney protested. He wasn’t quite sure how Carson had gotten him to agree with this trip. He remembered that Carson had asked him over dinner a couple weeks ago – long before Rodney had accidentally almost maybe ascended – and he had looked at him with his beautiful blue eyes, waiting for Rodney’s answer and…

And Rodney had said yes. Because he couldn’t refuse Carson anything when he was looking at him like that and it was a piece of information that Carson could never under any circumstances know about. He had already too much power as chief voodoo practitioner.

“Shut up Rodney”, Carson said, but it was followed with a smile that showed the dimples in Carson’s cheeks and Rodney had a weakness for dimples. Always had, or rather he definitely had one since he had met Carson.

It was a warm and sunny day and the walk through the forest was made even more pleasant by the fact that there were unlikely to be any angry natives or Wraith turning up at inopportune moments. Rodney still would have preferred being on Atlantis and working but he had to admit that it wasn’t too bad being here with Carson.

Or being anywhere with Carson really, but that was also something Carson could never know about. He would only use that knowledge to drag Rodney on even more fishing trips.

They broke through the forest and into the clearing, the pond right in front of them. It had a beautiful turquois colouring – a little like Carson’s eyes sometimes – and was surrounded by the forest on three sides and a rocky outcropping on the fourth. 

The sun was filtering through the leaves and the soft light gave everything a warm and inviting atmosphere.  
“Oh”, Rodney said, surprised by how pleasant he found it. “It’s beautiful.”

“Aye”, Carson, having stopped next to him, nodded. “It is.”

At Carson’s insistence they climbed onto the rocky side of the pond – which was way too sunny in Rodney’s opinion and if he got sunburned it was all Carson’s fault – and Carson began to set up his fishing rod.

Rodney in the meanwhile busied himself with putting together some sandwiches. His and Carson’s tastes were similar enough that he could almost make them the same ones – except for Carson’s inexplicable dislike of lettuce. One would think that someone as health conscious as Carson would see the advantages of eating lettuce but no. It was also clear that the kitchen staff was favouring Carson because there were chocolate bars among the packed food. They had certainly never given Rodney chocolate bars even when he was out on a dangerous mission to save the galaxy.

In between making the sandwiches Rodney looked up and saw that Carson was sitting in the camping chair he had brought with his fishing rod in his hand. He looked comfortable, serene, and very, very beautiful.

As if he could sense that Rodney was staring at him, Carson chose that moment to turn his head and when his eyes met Rodney’s he smiled. With his heartbeat picking up all of a sudden, Rodney awkwardly smiled back. 

“Sandwich?” He asked.

“I’d love one.”

Rodney set up the other camping chair next to Carson’s and grabbed the three sandwiches he had been making. One he gave to Carson and kept the other two for himself. 

“You know it’s uhm not so bad”, Rodney admitted when the silence began to grate on his nerves. Sitting idly, even in a beautiful scenery like this next to an even more beautiful person, had never been amongst his strengths. “Being here with you, I mean.”

“I told you so”, Carson replied, sounding smug, but he was also smiling again so Rodney was willing to forgive him.

“Yeah, yeah”, Rodney said dismissively, pretending Carson’s reply didn’t matter. When it mattered a lot. Not just his reply now but the hypothetical reply to the email Rodney might have send him when he had thought he would die.

It had made perfect sense back then since for the first time in his many near-death experiences, Rodney had had the opportunity to say his goodbyes properly. He had been very close to blurting it out to Carson when they had all almost died of that virus during their first year in Atlantis but then he had survived and the moment had passed.

This time he had written an email, a very eloquent email that would have been slightly worse if he hadn’t been even more of a genius than usual at the time of writing. Unfortunately he had also sent it before not-actually-dying again and even less fortunately, Carson hadn’t replied yet, which was as good as a no.

And why should Carson want to go out with him? Rodney knew himself fairly well and while he hwas a genius he was also abrasive and arrogant and didn’t deal well with being vulnerable. Carson was pretty much the opposite of that and he had had his fair share of female admirers. He had even admired some of them back.

At least he wasn’t treating Rodney in any way different than before or he wouldn’t have insisted on this fishing trip and – 

“Rodney, you’re thinking so loud it’s keeping the fish away”, Carson said, interrupting Rodney’s spiralling thoughts.

“That makes no sense”, Rodney replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you wonder why I refuse to call you a scientist.”

Carson smiled but didn’t give him an answer and instead looked out onto the water. “I liked your email.”

“What – oh, that email.” Rodney’s stomach sunk. Apparently, Carson did feel the need to let him down gently, though at least it was without an audience.

“It didn’t sound much like you, though.”

“I wasn’t quite myself at the time.”

“Did you – do you still mean it?” Finally, Carson turned towards him. The smile was gone and replaced with a rather tense expression.

Rodney was unsure how to respond to that question. Should he lie and say no? Should he tell Carson the truth? Which course of action was less likely to get him abandoned by the closest thing to a best friend he had ever had?

“Yes.” He decided to go with the truth after all and braced himself for Carson’s reply. He was a nice guy; Carson wouldn’t hit him or anything like that. He would probably still make an effort to try and be Rodney’s friend, no matter how awkward it would be and – 

“Good.” 

For the second time Carson’s words pulled Rodney out of his mind. “What?”

“I said ‘good’.” Carson’s expression had changed to amusement and Rodney didn’t get what was so funny about this unless Carson secretly wanted him to suffer for daring to have a crush on him, which was really unavoidable given Carson’s personality. Who didn’t have a crush on him?

“Oh”, Rodney said to stall for time. He hadn’t seen this coming. Why hadn’t he seen this coming? “So, if I wanted to repeat that kiss, except it just being me this time…”

“That would be fine, Rodney.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Aren’t you going to do something with that knowledge?” Carson was definitely having fun at his expense by now but since this might also lead to him kissing Carson in the near future, Rodney was willing to let it slide.

“You mean, right now?”

“I brought you here for a reason.”

“You said you wanted to go fishing!”

Carson had the audacity to laugh at Rodney’s outraged reaction, showing his dimples and blue eyes flashing and it left Rodney defenceless and without a choice.

Their second kiss was so much better than their first, longer, sweeter, and both of them wanted it to happen right here and now. Carson’s lips were as soft as Rodney remembered and when one of his strong hands cupped the back of his neck to pull him closer, Rodney shivered with ideas what else Carson’s hands could do to him.

“Do you have any idea how close I was to talking myself out of this trip?” Rodney asked as they broke off.

“Don’t worry, Rodney”, Carson smiled. “I wouldn’t have let you.”


End file.
